Apache Kafka vs Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS comparison

The compared Apache and Red Hat solutions aren't in the same category. Apache is ranked #8 in SA , with an average rating of 8.3, and holds a 3.7% mindshare in the category. Red Hat is ranked #13 in MQ , and holds a 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Apache users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

Apache Kafka

Read 89 Apache Kafka reviews

4,523 Views
859 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS

Read 1 Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS review

138 Views
102 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Apache Kafka

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Apache Kafka and Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Streaming Analytics

September 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Streaming Analytics (8th)

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Message Queue (MQ) Software (13th)

Mindshare comparison

Apache Kafka and Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Apache Kafka is designed for Streaming Analytics and holds a mindshare of 3.7%, up 2.0% compared to last year.
Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS, on the other hand, focuses on Message Queue (MQ) Software, holds 0.6% mindshare, up 0.4% since last year.

Streaming Analytics Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Apache Kafka	3.7%
Apache Flink	14.8%
Databricks	12.5%
Other	69.0%

Streaming Analytics

Message Queue (MQ) Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS	0.6%
IBM MQ	25.5%
ActiveMQ	25.1%
Other	48.8%

Message Queue (MQ) Software

Featured Reviews

Snehasish Das

Technology Leader at eTCaaS

Data streaming transforms real-time data movement with impressive scalability

I worked with Apache Kafka for customers in the financial industry and OTT platforms. They use Kafka particularly for data streaming. Companies offering movie and entertainment as a service, similar to Netflix, use Kafka Apache Kafka offers unique data streaming. It allows the use of data in…

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Akran Ruiz

System Administrator at BH Bank

It's scalable and easy to use, and we have local support here in Tunisia

We have an application-presentation layer, and we use JBoss to communicate with the application layer. The interceptors use Active MQ. JBoss is easy to use, and we have a good partner here in Tunisia to provide local support. JBoss could add more automation. We have been using JBoss for five…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Apache Kafka is its versatility. It can solve many use cases or can be a part of many use cases. Its fundamental value of it is in the real-time processing capability."

"The publisher-subscriber pattern and low latency are also essential features that greatly piqued my interest."

"The most valuable feature of Apache Kafka is the clustering which is very easy to scale and we have multiple servers all over our platforms. It has been useful for stability and performance."

"When comparing it with other messaging and integration platforms, this is one of the best rated."

"The stream processing is a very valuable aspect of the solution for us."

"The most important feature for me is the guaranteed delivery of messages from producers to consumers."

"Kafka makes data streaming asynchronous and decouples the reliance of events on consumers."

"Ease of use."

More Apache Kafka pros

"JBoss is easy to use, and we have a good partner here in Tunisia to provide local support."

Cons

"Apache Kafka can improve by adding a feature out of the box which allows it to deliver only one message."

"It’s a trial-and-error process with no one-size-fits-all solution. Issues may arise until it’s appropriately tuned."

"Config management can be better. We are always trying to find the best configs, which is a challenge."

"Lacks elasticity and the ability to scale down."

"The solution can improve its cloud support."

"We struggled a bit with the built-in data transformations because it was a challenge to get them up and running the way we wanted."

"Apache Kafka can improve by making the documentation more user-friendly. It would be beneficial if we could explain to customers in more detail how the solution operates but the documentation get highly technical quickly. For example, if they had a simple page where we can show the customers how it works without the need for the customer to have a computer science background."

"Kafka's interface could also use some work. Some of our products are in C, and we don't have any libraries to use with C. From an interface perspective, we had a library from the readies. And we are streaming some of the products we built to readies. That is one of the requirements. It would be good to have those libraries available in a future release for our C++ clients or public libraries, so we can include them in our product and build on that."

More Apache Kafka cons

"JBoss could add more automation."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is open source software."

"Running a Kafka cluster can be expensive, especially if you need to scale it up to handle large amounts of data."

"The price of the solution is low."

"Licensing issues are not applicable. Apache licensing makes it simple with almost zero cost for the software itself."

"Apache Kafka is an open-source solution and there are no fees, but there are fees associated with confluence, which are based on subscription."

"It's quite affordable considering the value it provides."

"This is an open-source solution and is free to use."

"When starting to look at a distributed message system, look for a cloud solution first. It is an easier entry point than an on-premises hardware solution."

More Apache Kafka pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	47

No data available

Questions from the Community

What are the differences between Apache Kafka and IBM MQ?

Apache Kafka is open source and can be used for free. It has very good log management and has a way to store the data used for analytics. Apache Kafka is very good if you have a high number of user...

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What do you like most about Apache Kafka?

Apache Kafka is an open-source solution that can be used for messaging or event processing.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Kafka?

Its pricing is reasonable. It's not always about cost, but about meeting specific needs.

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Comparisons

Red Hat AMQ vs Apache Kafka

Compared 17% of the time

IBM MQ vs Apache Kafka

Compared 11% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs Apache Kafka

Compared 11% of the time

PubSub+ Platform vs Apache Kafka

Compared 10% of the time

Amazon SQS vs Apache Kafka

Compared 9% of the time

More Apache Kafka Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apache Kafka

October 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Message Queue (MQ) Software

October 2025

Download Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS product report

Overview

Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed streaming platform that serves as a central hub for handling real-time data streams. It allows efficient publishing, subscribing, and processing of data from various sources like applications, servers, and sensors.

Kafka's core benefits include high scalability for big data pipelines, fault tolerance ensuring continuous operation despite node failures, low latency for real-time applications, and decoupling of data producers from consumers.

Key features include topics for organizing data streams, producers for publishing data, consumers for subscribing to data, brokers for managing clusters, and connectors for easy integration with various data sources.

Large organizations use Kafka for real-time analytics, log aggregation, fraud detection, IoT data processing, and facilitating communication between microservices.

Apache

To respond to business demands quickly and efficiently, you need a way to integrate the applications and data spread across your enterprise. Red Hat JBoss A-MQ—based on the Apache ActiveMQ open source project—is a flexible, high-performance messaging platform that delivers information reliably, enabling real-time integration and connecting the Internet of Things (IoT).

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ for xPaaS extends the capabilities to our Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution, Red Hat OpenShift, for messaging services in the cloud.

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest

E*TRADE, CERN, CenturyLink, AECOM, Sabre Holdings

Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Confluent and others in Streaming Analytics. Updated: September 2025.

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